Sympathy for the Riddle
by Drusilla13
Summary: He was a poor orphaned boy, a nobody. This is the story of how he became a somebody. The life of Tom Marvalo Riddle, told from his POV, how he was introduced to the wizarding world and became the most feared wizard of his time.
1. Prison

**~Sympathy for the Riddle~**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the characters, the plot, anything. I do not own the lyrics either. Don't sue me, I'm broke.

AN: This is the life of Tom Marvalo Riddle, told from his POV, hope you like it!

_Please allow me to introduce myself,  
I'm a man of wealth and taste,  
I've been around for a long, long year,  
Stole many a man's soul and faith,  
And I was 'round when jesus christ,  
Had his moment of doubt and pain,  
Made damn sure that Pilate,  
Washed his hands and sealed his fate,_

_  
Pleased to meet you,  
Hope you guess my name,  
But what's puzzling you,  
Is the nature of my game,_

They say your home is your castle.

The orphanage was not my castle.

This is the story of how I found my home in a great castle, and how I became the most feared Dark Lord.

Now, I shall start from the beginning.

I am an orphan. I am not proud of it. 

My father was a common Muggle. I am not proud of that either. 

He left my mother when he found out that she was a witch. Filthy Muggles, they act as though they are better than us.

My mother was also directly related to Salazaar Slytherin, the greatest of the four Hogwarts founders. I never understood why she even was associated with Muggles and I suppose I never will.

I was raised in a Muggle orphanage in London. I hated it there. The nuns were afraid of me, they were told to stay away from me, they had heard of what my mother was. It was mostly during the Great Depression that I was there, because of this, we wore filthy rags and weren't given much food. 

I loved to read when I was young; unfortunately, there were only a few books at the orphanage that I could get my hands on.

I didn't play with the other children often; they teased me for reading books.

One Christmas Eve, when I was ten years old, I sat in a corner reading a book about the Great War.

"What are you reading there, Tom?" One of the nuns asked me. "Let's see that," she took the book out of my hands and looked at the cover.

"The Great War…Tom, you should be reading about nicer things," she said as she started to walk away.

"Can I have the book back?" I called after her.

"No Tom, I don't know where you got it from but I hope you didn't take it from the office."

"But I like reading about the war!" I protested. 

"War is a monstrous thing, Tom. My father died fighting in it. If you like reading so much, I shall give you a bible for Christmas tomorrow,"

"Give me my book back!" I exclaimed. At that moment the book flew out of the nun's hands. She looked shocked, she turned to me, I could see that she was terrified; she had fear in her eyes. The other nuns and children in the room stopped what they were doing to stare.

I got the cane ten times for that incident. The nun said that I had thrown the book, the liar! I got five hits for that, and five hits for taking the book from Mr Holland's office.

"But it wasn't my fault!" I yelled as I was being hit.

"It was your fault, you devil child! Your mother was an evil witch!" Mr Holland shouted. I did not believe that my mother was evil, even back then where I was constantly told. "Now run along to church, maybe the Lord will rid you of that evil."

***

In the summer the next year, I received many letters. They were sent through the muggle post so I was asked to see Mr Holland who was in charge of that horrible institution. 

I knocked on the door. 

"Come in," I walked in, and I was taken back at the sight. There were envelopes everywhere, letters! 

"Now Tom," Mr Holland shook his head in his hands. "If some people come here and say that they want to send you away, you must tell them that you will rather stay here. Do you hear me Tom? No matter how nice this place may sound, it is an evil place that will put strange ideas into your head!"

"I don't understand. I can go somewhere else? What are all these letters?"

"They are acceptance letters to a Wizarding school. You are a wizard Tom, but I cannot let you go to this, this – school!"

"Why?" I looked closely at one of the letters. "These letters are addressed to me!" I started to open one. 

"No Tom! Stop it! STOP!" He ripped the letter out of my hands. But it was too late; I understood what I was meant to do. I snatched another letter off the ground and ran. I sprinted as fast as I could. Luckily Mr Holland was a beefy man and could not run very fast at all so he didn't see where I hid.

As I ran past one of the nun's room the door clicked open. It seemed that my magic was working with me today. I went inside, closed the door and hid in the closet. Just as I closed the closet door, I heard Mr Holland yell, "Search the orphanage! Search the orphanage for Tom Riddle!" 

They did not care to search the nun's rooms. 

I opened the letter as quietly as I could and read it under the light coming through the crack of the closet door.

_HOGWARTS__SCHOOL__ OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Dippet_

_Dear Mr Riddle,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at __Hogwarts__School__ of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. _

_Term begins on 1 September. _

_Yours sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_Deputy Headmaster_

I couldn't believe my eyes. I read the list of equipment and saw that I had to go to the address shown to get to the Leaky Cauldron which leads to Diagon Alley. Nervous excitement filled me; I never thought that I would be a wizard, just because my mother was a witch. 

I reread the letter over and over as the orphanage was searched for me and I waited for night to come so I could sneak up to my dormitory to get my things before I left this awful place for ever.

Little did I know that I would be back here, after the best year of my life.

AN: Thanks for reading! The lyrics at the beginning were from Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones (though it's also sung by Guns n Roses). I put them in because it reminded me of Voldemort. In the next chapter Tom goes to Diagon Alley and Hogwarts. Please review, thanks!


	2. Diagon Alley

I stayed in that closet for hours and hours until it was quit late in the night. I sat in there, imagining and dreaming of what my life would be like when I went to Hogwarts. There would be other children just like me there. The orphanage staff had given up on their searches for me. 

I opened the closet door slowly after deciding that it was safe enough, I cringed when the door creaked, disturbing the peace of the night. I then sneaked into my dormitory after making sure that the other members of my dorm were asleep. I quietly packed up the few possessions I had before leaving the orphanage. I was blissfully happy to be headed for a great new life.

I had to climb over the orphanage gates before I felt a great sense of freedom. I breathed in the cool night air and smiled, even though I would be spending the next two weeks as a homeless person. 

I started walking closer into the heart of London, wanting to put as much distance between myself and the orphanage.

The worst of the Great Depression was over, but there were still quite a few people living on the streets. For the rest of the summer, I lived with them. It was rougher living there than in the orphanage, but I managed to survive with the little food that was handed to me. I didn't look out of place; many people wore similar ragged clothes that I had from the orphanage. 

Everyday I reread the letter from Hogwarts. I didn't really understand some of it, like the part about how I was supposed to go to Gringotts bank and ask for Giblin the goblin. 

I had a sort of nervous excitement building up inside me, slowly, until I couldn't stand it any longer. Finally, a few says before I had to catch the Hogwarts Express, I decided to go to the Leaky Cauldron and find Diagon Alley. I stole a ride on the train as so many people did in those days when they couldn't even afford a ticket. I was quite worried about how I would get my school supplies as I had no money, maybe this Giblin would lend me some? I doubted it.

Having never been out of the orphanage before, the streets still interested me. I started walking down the street where the Leaky Cauldron was on, keeping an eye on what number shop I was walking past. I almost missed it, it was a tiny place and the letters had been painted on wonky. I frowned with realisation that the Leaky Cauldron was a pub. Not sure that I was allowed to go into such places; I glanced at the people around me, worried that even if I was permitted to go in, these Muggles might pull me away if I started towards it. No one else walking past seemed to notice it. I shrugged away my nerves and quickly walked into the pub. 

I peered around the dark place. It stank of tobacco and strong alcohol. A few men were at the bar smoking cigars, one of the turned around and observed me. "You alright there, son?" he asked.

"I-I um… Could you tell me how to get to Diagon Alley please?" I said hopefully.

The man got off the stool and led me through the bar and into a courtyard. There didn't seem to be any way out, only a bin. The man reached into his cloak and took out a thin piece of wood. I looked at it curiously. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"This is the way," he said. "You get out your wand and tap the brick three up and two across from the bin." 

He did just that and stepped back from the wall. The brick he tapped wiggled, I stared at it, eyes wide. A hole appeared in the wall, as it grew wider, so did my mouth. Soon it became a large archway that led to a cobbled street. I just stood there, amazed at the sight.

"There you are son," was all the man said before heading back into the pub. 

I grinned as I stared out into Diagon Alley and walked through the archway onto the street. I was supposed to go to Gringotts bank first, but I forgot about all of that now. I looked at the shops on each side of the street. Cauldrons, owls, robes, telescopes, books on fascinating subjects, even broomsticks! This was definitely what I wanted in my life. 

I came to a large white building, this was Gringotts, I thought as I walked up the stone steps. I walked inside to a huge marble hall, there was a long counter and behind it were many – creatures. Strange creatures they were, goblins I guessed. I swallowed nervously and slowly went up to the counter. "Ah, excuse me," I said to one of them, "I'm looking for Giblin… I was supposed to meet him." 

"Just a minute," said the goblin, which possibly had the weirdest voice I had ever heard. I looked along the counter where other goblins were working, I screwed up my nose; they were ugly creatures that I did not like at all.

Another goblin walked towards me, I guessed that this was Giblin. 

"Ah yes…you're the one, exactly how he described," he said. I gave him a questioning look. "He said to tell you that your money that your mother left to you is in vault 712. Not to worry, I have your key here." He held up a small golden key.

This was a lot to contemplate; my mother had left me money! Now I had the chance to get decent clothes and school supplies.

Giblin led me down to the vault that was mine; we went through a narrow corridor which was lit by torches. We travelled by a cart along some railway tracks, it was very fast and I had a heap of fun on it. 

What I saw after Giblin opened the door to the vault was amazing, I couldn't believe my eyes! There was a huge amount of gold silver and bronze. I piled some of it into a bag, not noticing how much I was taking; I was still in shock that I owned so much money.

I ended up spending the whole day in Diagon Alley, looking in every aisle of every shop. After going to Gringotts, I went into _Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions_, which was nearby. Madam Malkin looked at me sympathetically before fitting me with my school robes. Finally I would have something decent to wear, I grinned happily as I handed over the money to pay for them all. I worked out that Galleons were the gold coins; Sickles were the silver, and Knuts were the small bronze coins. 

I then wandered into a bookshop called _Flourish and Blotts, as well as getting all of my school books, I got some others that sounded interesting, including __'The history of the Dark Arts' and a couple of books on curses. I also got my potion supplies and a cauldron the Apothecary, which had a strong stench to it so I was glad to get out of there. _

Afterwards, I went to Ollivanders to get my wand. Ollivander was a strange man, when I first went into the shop he stared at me strangely and asked a lot of questions. He made me test what seemed like hundreds of wands before I found mine. I knew as soon as my fingertips made contact with the wand that this was the one for me. 

"This is it," I said as I picked it up for the first time.

"How can you know? Give it a wave."

And sure enough he agreed that this was the wand I was to have. All the same, I was glad to get out of there, he keep going on and on about how unique and special the wand was and that he expected me to become a great wizard.

AN: Thanks for reading! Pease, please, please review; I would really like the feedback! 


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